First Encounter
by ATmac05
Summary: A one-shot fic about the Prince's thoughts and feelings after vanquishing the Vizier, and his first encounter with the Dahaka.


First Encounter

A/N: Hey everyone. I was feeling in the mood to write a Prince of Persia fic' so I decided to write a one shot about the first encounter the Prince had with the Dahaka. It takes place roubhly between the time the prince defeated the Vizier at the end of the Sands of Time, and before he went to see the old man at the beginning of the Prince of Persia.

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Sadness overwhelmed me, constantly. It seems that all of my efforts to reverse the Sands of Time were for naught. I began to wonder whether I was facing some sort of chemical depression, for it seemed hard to leave my palace bed, or go anywhere period. But, when it comes down to it, why not be depressed? Even though I stopped the Vizier and managed to save the Indian Palace from being invaded by my father and the sands stolen. I lost the one thing I had learned to care about more than anythind during my quest.

Farah. It seems ironic. When I first met her I saw her only as a way of getting past the sand creatures and reaching my ultimate goal. When she became my companion I started off slowly seeing her as an annoyance. She seemed to fill my head with nonsense of love, "why would she be thinking about that at a time like this?", I used to ask myself. Then as I continued to travel with her I fell more and more in love with her, and that which I considered "babble" began to make perfect sense. I had begun to wonder whether I loved her in return, and then one fateful evening in a golden pool my wonderings were confirmed. I had fallen in love. But, in the end, the only way to save the world was to reset time, and in turn, reset Farah's knowledge of me.

And now, I sit here in my palace bed a broken man. With a broken heart and a broken dream. Why? Why can't I be happy? Women from other kingdoms and towns throw themselves at me. I have spent many of lustful nights with women who my father wish for me to marry. Yet, I cannot keep my mind off the one who I spent my adventure with. The one I love. Love. That is the key difference between all the other women I've been in bed with. I was with them for pleasure, but Farah, my night of passion with her was love.

But, besides my sadness of my lost love, something else haunts me. In my dreams. This dream, no, this nightmare is the reason I lay awake at night in my bed. Or least try to stay awake. When I rest I vision myself upon a ship traveling across the dark sea at night. The moon is covered by the clouds and there is a dreadful storm challenging every skill I have as a sailor. My crew are at work tying up the sails and wrapping their lifelines around them when a mysterious ships sails next to us. And from this ship emerge other sailors infected by the sands. Quickly my crew draws their weapons and do battle. As do I. But then I find the captain, a figure shaped like a woman surrounded by shadows. I began to do battle with her, and then I deliver a finishing blow to her side. But just as I strike her, the shadowns around her explode. The quickly spread all around my ship and block out the sky. Then they reattach themselves and mold another figure. A much larger one. This beast seems to be nothing but a large shadow surrounded by heavy black armor. It rougly has the form of a man but is most certainly not. The only thing representing its face are two white pupil-less eyes. Realzing the inevitable and I turn around attempting to escape, but then one the beast's tendrils wrap around my ankle and swoop me into a strange black abyss that the beast omits.

I wake up sweating after the dream each time. And tonight was no different. I grabbed hold of the blanket and wiped my forehead. This wasn't just a nightmare, no, a nightmare doesn't occur night and night. This dream coincides with something. Something in my future. I have experienced too much time with strange phenomena to believe otherwise.

Thinking this I remove myself form the bed and walk over to large, wide, bucket of water. It is much to late to take a bath so I splash some of the water onto my face and chest. "I think I'll take a walk. I'm still a bit sweaty and hot so I think I'll leave my shirt off." I say to myself. I throw on my pants and then my boots and step out on the balcony.

The balcony has a pathway that leads down to stairs that circle the outside of the palace. They eventually lead down to another balcony that leads to the kitchen. "This should be plesant. It'll get my mind off things." Or so I thought. This night was actually the first of many where I truly cannot rest. As I take my first step I hear a heavy panting. This panting was...unnatural. Beastly. No, it can't be. The sky darkend even more than I could've ever imagined. "Face you fears, prince." I say as I turn around.

And there, standing before me was the beast I so longed to be rid of in my dreams. It was chanting an unitrepretable language. "No! NO! STAY THE HELL AWAY FROM ME!" I quickly turned aroudn and sped down the walkway. The walkway behind me crumbling as the beast ran along it. "It's too fast! Running won't save me!" I quickly look up to see a ledge above me. An indent in the wall as well. I run up the wall and hang onto the small ledge forming because of the indent. One of the beast tendrils slam against the wall creating a huge crack. "It's reaching for me with them! Just like my dream!" I quickly shimmy to the slid and then climb over the railing.

This ledge leads to one of the maid servants rooms. She's sleeping soundly. I wonder whether or not the beast will kill her too? I take no chances. "DARISHI! WAKE UP!" She shot up. "P...prince?" "RUN!" I sream as I speed past her. As I exit the room I hear a scream of anguish. The beast did kill her as well. I run out onto a walkway overlooking the baths. Four colums sit out in front of me.

I turn around for a second. The beast is still after me. I jump onto the railing and then backflip onto the column. I begin to slide down but the beast smashes the column in two with one of its tendrils before I can slide all the way down. I fall into one of the bathing pools. "This is it." I mutter as I sink into the pool. But for some reason the monster just roars and then just jumps away. Why did he leave? Can he not touch the water? I don't know. But it will come back, I can feel it. I must leave this palace immediately. Figure out what this beast is, why it pursues me, and how to stop it.

A/N: Well there it is. A bit long for a one-shot I suppose. Oh well, please review. Oh, and since on the game the Dahaka stops at the water, I assume it works with water period. But, if it doesn't just accept it for plot purposes. Well anyway, review, review, review! 


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